WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 23, 2019--U.S. fabricators, distributors, installers and importers of quartz countertops joined together today to launch the American Quartz Worker Coalition. The group has organized in opposition to an attempt by one company, Cambria LLC, to convince the U.S. government to impose trade restrictions on imported quartz, a move designed to inflate Cambria’s profits.

The Coalition is dedicated to fighting an anti-dumping and countervailing duty petition filed by Cambria LLC with the U.S. government that, if the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) approves, could result in duties on imports of quartz surface products from China as high as 341%. The Coalition is representing the interests of more than 200 fabricators employing more than 5,000 Americans across the country and others who have expressed their opposition to Cambria’s petition in filings submitted to the ITC.

The Coalition is urging the ITC to consider the significant impact of such duties on American workers and the U.S. quartz market. Specifically, the Coalition warns that duties would create huge cost increases for imported quartz and remove approximately 50% of available quartz supply from the market. Not only would these tariffs reduce available supply and limit consumer choice, but they would also threaten tens of thousands of quartz-related U.S. fabricating jobs.

“The U.S. quartz industry is an American success story,” said Matt Huarte, Owner and Vice President of Arizona Tile. “The industry has generated significant job growth, healthy profits and exploding sales over the past decade. Unfortunately, this success story is threatened by Cambria’s trade petition, which is simply an attempt to fatten its already high profits to the detriment of other manufacturers in the U.S. quartz industry, as well as U.S. quartz consumers. If the costs of quartz increase, consumers will choose alternative countertops, reducing U.S. fabricating-related jobs.”

“There are two very distinct market segments for quartz countertops and ‘looks’ in the U.S.—the luxury market and the mass market—with little competition between them,” said Rupesh Shah, Co-President of MS International. “Cambria already dominates the premium luxury market with high-priced specialty products and is highly profitable as a result. U.S. fabricators, who serve the mass market and account for over 50,000 manufacturing jobs throughout all 50 states, rely on these imports to provide consumers with affordable quartz countertop products. If these duties are imposed, U.S. fabricators across the country will suffer.”

“Cambria is petitioning the U.S. Government to diminish the vital role of fabricators in our industry, claiming that they play such a small and insignificant role in the industry that they should be ignored,” said Marisa Bedrosian, Co-Owner of Bedrosian’s Tile and Stone. “Nothing could be further from the truth. U.S. quartz fabricators are major employers and investors in this industry, and most importantly, are responsible for more U.S. labor to create quartz countertops than Cambria. It is easy to recognize the immeasurable value of our fabricators given that quartz countertops must be fabricated and installed to amount to any worth to a consumer.”

“The ‘Legend of Cambria’ is that fabricators don’t matter, and that is why we have come together to form this Coalition,” continued Bedrosian. “We will tell the real story and ensure that the facts about the entire U.S. quartz industry are heard and considered by the ITC. We are confident that once the ITC reviews this case based on the facts, it will not impose these unnecessary duties on our industry. Hard working U.S. fabricators and other workers in our industry should be allowed to continue providing consumers with unlimited choices in quartz countertops.”